Diary

SF

Before I went to SF, I was concerned about having a lack of friends there, but that has been dispelled by the last 2 trips. Friends won't be a problem, although a boyfriend may still be a challenge. Problems: 2nd most crowded[crowded highlighted in yellow] city in US. No easy access to restaurants. Hard to park anywhere.[highlighted in yellow] Not warm; not enough skin(likeLA)[not warm highlighted in yellow] Too many leather & SM bars Lots of ugly, tired queens (twinpeaks bar.) Castro is dirty[dirty highlighted in yellow] Expensive for most people [inserted arrow] low STD of living.[highlighted in yellow] Too cloudy Few parks No pretty neighborhoods with views [inserted text above- very little underground wiring; inserted text below- torn-up streets; inserted text beside list- SF doesn't solve my winter weather problem. Cloudy Sundays.]

Advantages: Places to go on weekends (Tahoe, Yosemt, Carmel, R.River Napa Valley Lots of gay friends (but influenced by env't)gay friends highlighted in yellow] Good gym & I Beam on Sundays [ highlighted in yellow] [inserted bracket beside these two with side note-But that's only advantage over Seattle- with arrow pointing to good gym] Interesting geography The big question is whether I'd like living in the city. It's very crowded, and by a lot of trashy ugly, [inserted text- japs& blacks]poor[inserted text- ex-hippie] people.[highlighted in yellow] And weather is not inspiring usually.

It seems like it could be a real high-risk city. I may be happy there or maybe not.

I think LA may be better for daily living, but SF would be better for weekends. Seattle would be the best for weekends if I had someone special here.

SF seems like a balanced place. Its between LA & Seattle in terms of cute hunky guys & in terms of weather. It's a compromise. [inserted text above-summer is cloudy. Winter is cold.)-No great time of year.] Is it another Redondo B??h, in the middle of everthing, but nowhere?[sentence highlighted in yellow]

I really didn't know where I'd live till the last visit. Only place would be above Market, overlooking the city. That could be nice very often.

But SF is so small geo'ly.[so small geoly -highlighted in yellow] I would miss the great variety Seattle has to offer [I would miss the great variety- highlighted in yellow] with Parks, Waterways, Universitys, residential areas, etc.

SF has [inserted text- where gays go to die. The last hope of the lost.] no great image. All the fun things are quite a distance away, unlike nightskiing in Seattle,[nightskiing highlighted in yellow] beaches at Golden Gardens, etc.

Do I see people at gym who could be friends?[question highlighted in yellow] Or at Moby Dicks or Chaps? No![highlighted in yellow] And midnight sun[midnight sun- highlighted in yellow] has long lines & is always crowded.[is always crowded- highlighted in yellow] Nowhere elso[sp] do I ever want to go in SF: Not Polk, Castro, or Folsom. All not v?ry pretty.

And shopping for groceries. They've got to have some of the most tacky grocery stores in the world![tacky grocery stores-highlighted in yellow]

SF feels awful when it gets cloudy or is about to get cloudy. It's cold and windy then. Often.[cold and windy then. Often-highlighted in yellow]

Almost the entire city is wall to wall 3 story buildings. Little yard space. Small backyards.[these two sentences highlighted in yellow]

There's very little foliage[highlighted in yellow] at all. There's a lot of lonely losers. Few tree-lined streets.[tree- lined streets- highlighted in yellow]

LA vs SF If I had to pick just one place, it may be SF. It has a little of everything. But I want more out of life. I spend a lot of time working & a lot of time around my home wherever it is. I don't spend time away from home except on weekends. So SF would be a poor choice during the week. [sentence highlighted in yellow][inserted text- TRUE 8/85] LA would be a good choice. But Sundays are not so great there, but neither are they great right in SF. You have to travel quite a ways for your weekends.

Sundays[Sundays highlighted in yellow] in SF or La. That's a big problem.[sentence highlighted in yellow] But at least you get sunshine for a few of them, unlike in Seattle during the winter. Both cities are awful sometimes, so maybe the only solution is to keep doing all 3 till something more comes along.

I had thought that I may [?y] to stay on with Microsoft, and

therefore a split residence would be more appropriate than one balanced city. Then I'd do LA & SEA, and I could make use of the investment I have in each city. AND I DO HAVE A LOT INVESTED.

But there isn't that much more software to write, so I won't have much ability to work away[text starting at software -away-highlighted in yellow] by myself anymore. Maybe I can get away for the next chunk of code I do, but there's nothing more after that.

And besides, a split residence would be really tough to handle, mail-wise & communication-wise. You can't develop deep friendships.[text starting at a split- highlighted in yellow] Look what's happened to Aaron M.

But I haven't solved the problem. I want Sun & Friends & interesting work. All 3 are about to run out in Seattle.[last 3 sentences highlighted in yellow][ text inserted below-WRONG 8/85 (JUST SUN,? ??k till FEB)][inserted text highlighted in yellow] Most of all I want Sun & Friends. I haven't had that for quite awhile.[last paragraph in red ink]